It will be delivered to the company in Guangshui in January and will go into operation in April.

The press will mainly be used for the production of folding carton and cigarette packaging.

Hubei Guangcai has been using Koenig & Bauer technology since 1997.

“In 1997, we actively expanded our operations in the field of cigarette packaging production,” Hubei Guangcai GM Haifeng Xing said. “At that time, it was imperative to import a state-of-the-art sheetfed offset press. We opted for a five-color Rapida 104 with coater.”

Hubei Huawen is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hubei Guangcai and the two companies have jointly purchased six Rapida sheetfed offset presses since the start of their cooperation with Koenig & Bauer.

“In line with market requirements, we have developed and introduced new technologies to protect our packaging against counterfeiting, e.g. by using special inks that react thermally or effect coatings that are difficult to copy,” Xing said.

The new Hubei Guangcai plant built in 2014 covers an area of more than 120 hectares.